 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Stroka v. United Airlines11/26/2003
ociated with the employment, such as industrial accidents; 2) those that are neutral, which are uncontrollable circumstances that do not originate in the employment environment but rather happen to befall the employee during the course of his or her employment, such as acts of God; and 3) those personal to the employee. Id. at 291-92. (internal citations and quotations omitted).
Petitioner characterizes the risk of airplane hijacking as falling into the first category, arguing that it is distinctly associated with her employment as a flight attendant. We agree.
The precipitating event of her post-traumatic stress disorder -- an airplane hijacking -- was peculiar to the nature of her work as a flight attendant, and essentially related to her workplace, an airplane. United anticipated the risk that hijackings pose to flight attendants, as is evident from the training video shown to petitioner"which touched on the issue" of hijacking, and from the FAA handbook United provided to her which contained an entire chapter about the ways flight attendants should handle hijackings. United recognized the risk hijacking posed to its employees, and attempted to provide instructions on how to deal with it. This training provided to petitioner was distinctly associated with petitioner's job. See Cairns v. City of East Orange, 267 N.J. Super. 395, 400-01 (App. Div. 1993) (quoting Walck v. Johns-Manville Prods. Corp., 56 N.J. 533, 556 (1970) (holding occupational disease arose out of employment if precipitating event was"peculiar" to the workplace, or held some"essential relation to the work or its nature")); cf. Berko v. Freda, 93 N.J. 81, 88 (1983) (finding that because police officers are statutorily required to undergo training in high speed chase situations, high speed chases are inherent risks in police work). Thus, because an essential relation exists between the job of flight attendant and the risk of hijacking, petitioner's injury is incidental to and arose out of her employment.
Where we differ with petitioner's position, and with the conclusion of the workers' compensation judge, is whether petitioner's post-traumatic stress syndrome arose in the course of her employment. We hold that it did not.
An accident arises in the course of employment when"it occurs (a) within the period of the employment and (b) at a place where the employee may reasonably be, and (c) while he is reasonably fulfilling the duties of the employment, or doing something incidental thereto." Crotty v. Driver Harris Co., 49 N.J. Super. 60, 69 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 27 N.J. 75 (1958). See also Coleman, supra, 105 N.J. at 289 (quoting Mikkelsen v. N.L. Indus., 72 N.J. 209, 212 (1977)) (activities incidental to duties of employment are those"within the scope of the work-period and the work-place while the employee was engaged in... customary, or reasonably expectable activities"). These principles are illustrated by the 1979 Amendment to the Act, N.J.S.A. 34:15-36, which generally limited compensable activities to those which occur after arrival at, and before departure from, the workplace. Chisholm-Cohen v. County of Ocean, Dep't of Emergency Serv., 231 N.J. Super. 348, 351 (App. Div. 1989). Only under limited circumstances, where the employee is required by the employer to be away from the employer's place of employment and is, at the time, engaged in the direct performance of his or her duties, will an incident which occurred off premises be compensable. N.J.S.A. 34:15-36.
Here, when Flight 93 was attacked and crashed, petitioner was taking a day off without pay to care for her daughter and go bowling. She was not engaged in any activity that could conceivably constitute"a clear and subst
Page 1 2 3 4 New Jersey Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|